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Tuesday, 23 July 2013

Top 12 Ebay selling tips for fashion

1) Picking the stock

Ebay popular items page can give you an idea what are currently the bestselling items in clothing. Another way is by looking at fashion blogs and seeing what are the most reoccurring pieces of clothing at the moment, for example: crop tops, florals, midi skirts, etc.

2)Photography

If you take a look at the top selling clothing shops on Ebay you will notice two main things in terms of photography: all use a good camera, and all use a model to display their clothing. The model can either by your friend, your sibling, or even yourself. Take photos from all angles and for vintage don`t forget to display any marks or damages.

3)Ebay fees

When opening your shop or pricing your items you need to pay attention to the Ebay fees as they tend to add up quite quickly.

To save up money consider selling for the first few months from your personal account without opening a shop. I personally haven`t found much difference between having a shop or not in terms of sales.

Another saving tip is to wait for the insertion free weekends, which usually happen twice a month.

4)Delivery pricing

I prefer to keep free local delivery and only price for international shipping as free delivery listings tend to appear higher in Ebay searches which means increase in sales. Also everyone hates having to pay for delivery even though is just £1 or £2 so I prefer to include it in the clothing price.

5)Best time for listing

I have found that listings ending on Sunday evenings between 6pm and 9pm are usually the best times as it`s mostly when people are staying at home in front of their computers and hopefully shopping on ebay! However this varies from seller to seller.

6)Buy it now or Auction

For clothing I prefer to list my items as auction as in this way I can take advantage of the insertion free weekends. If you`re scared your piece might sell for something less that you planned for you can keep the starting price higher.

What I mention in my listings however is that if someone desires to purchase the item quicker they can contact me and I`ll be more than happy to offer them a buy it now option.

Buy it now or auction have always raised a lot of debate between sellers so I think the only way of finding out which one works best for you is by trial and error.

7)Packaging

Personalized packaging gives a sense of excitement to customers. Who doesn`t love opening a cute surprise box?? I used to use pink wrapping paper, with a baby blue ribbon and leave inside a colorful thank you note written by hand as well as my shop details.

I have received many thank you messages from girls all over the world that loved the packaging and also helped me always keep my feedback at 100%.

Photos: Pinterest

8)Promoting the shop

To promote my shop I started this fashion blog where I would show how I would style the clothing pieces I had in stock that week. Another way of promotion is of course through social media: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, or through guest posts on other blogs.

Another method that many online brands use nowadays is to send products for review to bloggers, which you can apply to your Ebay shop as well.

9)Feedback

Before publishing your items you need to have some initial feedback as people usually buy only from sellers with feedback over 98%. The more feedback you have the more people feel comfortable shopping from you. If you shop quite a lot on Ebay you probably already have some feedback on your account but if you just opened your account a great way to get that initial feedback is to buy 10-15 items that are necessary for the run of your shop through Ebay. When I started I bought everything from measuring tape, scissors, needles, wrapping paper, ribbon, printing paper from Ebay.

10)Filling in the product listing

Have a comprehensive title for your product however try to keep it as short and easy to understand as possible.

For all clothing pieces I also post the measurements in the description box (in centimeters and inches) and the size in UK, EU, and US metrics. This makes it easier for buyers from all over the world to check if the piece fits them or not.

11)Partnerships with other online shops

Partnering with similar online shops and exchanging items can be another way of getting more exposure and increase in sales. This can be done by contacting a shop you like and offer them to post a few of their items on your own shops by providing photos, and exact listing details, in exchange for posting a few of your pieces on their shop.

12)Clothing pricing

When pricing your items keep in mind all the costs you`re incurring: the initial cost of the piece, the packaging, the shipping, the ebay fees, your time; but also have a look for similar items from your competitors and check what`s the average price they are selling for.

Great tips - no matter where you are selling, photography is key! I often tell people this when they are starting an Etsy shop :) I'm going to list a few things on Ebay shortly, hopefully a mannequin will be sufficient, but I am no good at the whole modeling thing, lol